Google has presented an interesting survey on mobile usage to the Mobile Marketing Association forum in New York (reports Search Engine Land). Admittedly sponsored by Google itself, it combines two surveys on mobile habits and, surprisingly, includes Symbian. The two key points to take away are that more than half of smartphone users go online each day, and over 80% of people search for local information, and the vast majority of them will act on what they find.

The inclusion of Symbian is a moot point, to be honest, as the data presented is not broken down by platform, but by usage patterns. But the numbers are fun. Looking at the UK, 58% of smartphone users will go online once a day, and of those users, 53% will go online more than once.

A whopping 90% of the smartphone user base in the UK will use their device to look up local information or services on the handset, and of those looking up, 87% will take some form of action on the information their phone gives them.

I like that the number of businesses with a mobile version of their website is 17%, while 15% of them have some sort of application. I suspect, although the data doesn't show it, that these will mostly be the same companies.

Anyway, an interesting read, and there's a lot more numbers over on Search Engine Land.

Ewan, AAS

[PS. Anyone tried mobile.allaboutsymbian.com lately? - Ed]